Freeing Computers in Schools

Riza is a four-year-old Indian girl who
thinks of computers as toys. Instead of adding one more difficult
subject to her already tiring school day, she occasionally plays
educational games on the PC. When her friends come over, they end
up learning without being aware of it. One girl her age, who's
never handled computers before, drags the mouse. As she moves it
across the mouse pad, the image of a furry bear jerkily is unveiled
on the monitor. Another younger child dances to the music that a
program called Bump and Jump plays, a piece of software written by
a team of Swedish students. The best part is nobody paid for the CD
the children are using; it's not pirated either. It can be run from
any computer, simply by booting from the CD-ROM drive. The CD comes
in a distribution called
FreEDUC.So, what's the point of this example? The point is free
software is opening up a whole new world, and education is one of
its major global beneficiaries. Free software tool are being used
to help students from kindergarten through graduate school, but how
much attention is being paid to this topic?Niranjan Rajani, a South Asian researcher based in Finland,
recently put together a study titled
"Free
as in Education: Significance of the Free/Libre and Open Source
Software for Developing Countries" that discusses the
benefits of FLOSS. Rajani says, "In terms of computer education,
FLOSS has no match. Nothing else provides [as] much value to
learners as FLOSS does. You're free to tinker with the code. Not
only that, you can get in touch with the people who wrote the code
and ask why this or that was done in a particular piece of
code."Rajani adds, "FLOSS has a complementary and reciprocal
relationship to education. One needs an educated section of the
population to fulfill the full potential of FLOSS, and at the same
time FLOSS helps, enhances and complements education by providing
tools to promote education."We're not talking about only computer education here. Free
software has a big role to play in general education at all levels
in India, and here are ten good reasons why:

1. Not by bread (money) alone: Because free software
   evangelists are not motivated by money alone, chances are they work
   in areas that have high social need and not only those areas that
   cater to the affluent. It's no coincidence that education is high
   on free software evangelists' agendas, within India and
   abroad.
2. Some of the best brains are here. The strong sense
   of community makes it very easy to share software, ideas and
   solutions.
3. Anyone can get involved. Entry barriers to
   contribute to free software are low. Educators can and are shaping
   this movement and how responsive it is to the world of
   education.
4. Indian concerns, Indian developers: if we don't
   solve our own problems, will a giant corporation in the US do it
   for us? FLOSS makes it easy for anyone with motivation and a bright
   idea to contribute to an exciting global network. The free software
   world also shows us that people contribute their skills and work
   reasons other than money. They do so out of altruism and a desire
   to share knowledge. They do it for fun or because they like the
   challenge. They do it to develop new skills and even in
   anticipation of indirect rewards, such as improved job
   opportunities.
5. Affordability: Free software is not about price,
   it's about freedom. Yet, in cash-strapped countries such as India,
   the affordability of this tool makes it particularly suitable for
   deployment in education.
6. Support the worldwide community: To scare off
   people from using free software, one argument says few firms are
   behind this global campaign. Yet, once a region builds up its
   skills--and we're fast getting there in India--they spread quickly.
   Dozens or hundreds of mailing-lists and newsgroups exist that offer
   support from a worldwide community of users and programmers.
7. Indian-language solutions: If there are a handful
   of volunteers, it is possible to make rapid strides in
   "Indianising" software. This concept also applies to narrowly used
   languages that proprietary software might not see as viable
   interests. We can't restrict computing and technology to a handful
   of English-language speakers in this part of the globe. Networks
   such as the
   Indic-computing-users
   mailing list are doing interesting work on this front.
8. Adapt, rebuild, reuse: You don't have to re-invent
   the wheel. Anyone interested can adapt existing software for
   specific needs. In tiny Goa, located on the Indian west coast, the
   local chapter of ILUG (India Linux Users Groups) rebuilt a
   distribution to make it easier and more uniform for untrained
   people to install Linux in schools.
   Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay, from eastern India, recently wrote
   to me, "If you happen to meet Arvind Yadav, can you pass on a
   message? My friends have successfully implemented LTSP [a
   terminal-server, which allows for the use of earlier generation
   hardware] with graphics, thanks to his wonderful Goa Schools CD,
   which he so kindly provided to me."Another uses, Arun, writes, "We have tested gcompris (a set
   of educational software) in Malayalam [a language spoken by over 30
   million, but still awaiting computing solutions in many spheres]).
   Some games, like typing tutor, need to be modified for Indian
   languages." gcompris is a piece of international education
   software, whose name is based on the French phrase "I understand"
   (j'ai compris).
9. The interest is here: In India itself, a number of
   groups already are working to adapt free software to education. One
   on these groups is called LIFE; you can join the list by sending
   e-mail
   here.
10. If this won't work, nothing will: In the software
    world, the FLOSS movement has shown its ability to produce results.
    This is one area of life where the alternative is proving to be
    really good. Maybe better than the real thing, that is, the
    dominant model of software production.

To finish up, here some pointers on getting started with
FLOSS in education.Using free software often means that you need an additional
operating system (OS) to run it on. (Some software, on CDs like
GNUWin or The Open CD, run on the Windows platform. But this is
rare.) You can install a new OS alongside an existing OS, including
Windows, provided you have the space for it.You should be able to access much of your earlier work in
GNU/Linux too, unless it was created in proprietary file formats.
GNU/Linux-based computing can achieve almost everything that a
computer run on proprietary software can, plus things proprietary
software cannot.CDs of free software can be download from the Net (a
laborious process given the slow lines most of us use in India) or
copied quite legally from friends. It even can be purchased from
outlets in Bangalore or Mumbai, Belgaum or Pondicherry at a price
of Rs 25-50 per CD. Many Indian cities have GNU/Linux user-groups,
called LUGs or GLUGs. Find a list on
www.linux-india.org
or check gnu.org.in. Paid
services also are available, but if want friendly neighbourhood
support, a little bit of politeness could bring you support that
money simply can't buy!ResourcesFor a listing of case studies focused on GNU/Linux use in
education, visit
casestudy.seul.org.Schoolforge works to promote free and open resources for
education. Join
Schoolforge-discuss
for more information. One condition is members must participate in
discussions. As the volunteers say, "We all are busy, but we all
are doing our best to collaborate wherever possible." They also
encourage setting up Schoolforge units and meeting places wherever
possible.Recently, a project has been started to produce
a free school
administration software package. It currently is in the
planning stage and needs volunteers to help define requirements and
assist with construction.Some useful mailing lists include the
demo-schools
network in South India, the
International
Schoolforge and the
Linux-Delhi schools
network.See Linux for
Kids for more information on Linux in education.Tools Available within Arms ReachBelow are some tools available with the gcompris, drgenius
and other GNU/Linux packages.junior-math: Basic arithmetic, Q&A.junior-toys: Simple toys to adorn your desktop.junior-typing: Typing tutor.tuxtype: Educational typing tutor game starring Tux.gperiodic: Periodic table.ding: Language learning (default: German-English).12e: English-to-Spanish translation dictionary.Multiple versions of pool (billiards) games.ksokoban: Excellent game to teach logic.mathwar: A flash card game designed to teach math.garlic: A free molecular visualization program for
chemistry.ghemical: GNOME molecular modeling environment.Also available are Debian junior games for the network,
simulation games, text-based games, junior Internet tools, junior
programming games, junior puzzles, junior system tools and ucblogo,
a dialect of LISP that uses turtle graphics and is famous for
teaching kids.Frederick Noronha is a
Goa-based freelance journalist, who often writes on IT issues. He
is actively involved with the GNU/Linux movement in India.

email: fred@bytesforall.org